Tokyo Olympics: Day 2 starts on a sour note as shooters Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini fail to qualify

The second day of Tokyo Olympics started off on a sour note for India, as star shooters Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Singh, both medal hopefuls, failed to qualify for the women's 10m air pistol final. Bhaker, who struggled initially with some technical glitches in her gun, started off on a strong note with a 98 and struggled later with 95, 94 and another 95, slipping down to rank 17 after finishing her third series. She came back superbly in the fifth series with a 98, but ended with an aggregate score of 575 that placed her 12th in rank. Yashaswini was 13th, with a score of 574. Both of them were knocked out.

Both Yashaswini and Manu went into the competition as world number one and two, respectively. After a disappointing first day for India’s star-studded shooting contingent, a medal for Bhaker on day two would have lifted the pressure off the youngsters who will take part in the team events on Tuesday.

For the mixed event, Bhaker will pair with Saurabh Chaudhary, who finished seventh in the men’s 10m air pistol event on Saturday. On Thursday, she will also participate in the women’s 25m pistol—the only Indian to contest in three events this time.

In the sport's first competition day, Indian shooters endured multiple heartbreaks with the biggest disappointment being Chaudhary's failure to win a medal after topping the qualifications. While Chaudhary finished seventh in the finals of men's 10m air pistol, his roommate Abhishek Verma settled for 17th position in the qualifications. In the women's 10m air rifle, both Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela could not clear the qualifying hurdle, settling for the 16th and 36th place respectively.